Treatment Planning and Case Management
Sequencing care
Treatment planning is a prioritized, staged process. Candidates must understand the standard sequence: address urgent pain and infection, stabilize periodontal and caries disease, establish function, then address esthetics and elective care. Medical risk assessment comes first because it determines whether and how treatment can proceed. Consider caries risk, periodontal risk, occlusal scheme, and the patient's values and finances.
Traps in question stems
A common trap is planning definitive restorations before disease control, or extracting a strategic tooth without considering the prosthetic consequences downstream. Questions may present a medically complex patient and expect you to recognize when consultation or modification is required. Another trap is the "ideal plan" versus the "achievable plan": examiners reward the plan that is safe, sequenced, and consistent with the patient's stated goals, not the most elaborate one. Watch for questions asking what to do first versus what to do eventually.
Rule of thumb
Use the "ABC" sequence: Airway and acute infection first, Biological disease control second (caries, periodontal, hygiene), then Construction (definitive restorative and prosthetic work). If a proposed treatment cannot be maintained by the patient, reconsider it.
Worked example
A patient with uncontrolled diabetes and generalized severe periodontitis requests full-arch implants. The correct first step is not implant planning but medical optimization and periodontal stabilization, because implant survival depends on glycemic control and periodontal stability. Sequencing here is the examinable concept, not the implant brand.